Flooding in Vancouver, Squamish as king tide meets latest B.C. storm

The king tide that crashed up against B.C.'s South Coast on Tuesday caused flooding in downtown Squamish and along the Vancouver seawall.

Witnesses said the floodwaters reached a number of Squamish businesses and left several parked vehicles partially submerged before eventually subsiding.

"I was walking my dog and saw everything unfold and was quite taken aback," said Jason Ross, a weather watcher with Environment and Climate Change Canada who lives in the area.

"One of the local donut shops had water come right to the front door."

It's unclear whether any businesses sustained damage during the flooding.

Ross said the wild weather event was the result of high tides mixing with rainfall and snowmelt to create a "perfect storm" of conditions.

Down in Vancouver, waves also crashed onto the seawall at Kitsilano Beach and in Stanley Park, leaving part of the area underwater as well.

Due to the current conditions, Stanley Park Seawall from Lion's Gate to English Bay, and sections around Kits Pool will be closed until further notice (Tuesday, December 27th). Please take care in all low-lying coastal areas, beaches and waterfront over the coming days. pic.twitter.com/n4FOeXJKVk

— Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation (@ParkBoard) December 27, 2022

The city's park board had proactively closed down parts of the seawall in anticipation of the king tide. On Twitter, the board said improvements made to "address climate emergencies, similar to last year's storm," appear to have been successful. 

 "Staff will be completing assessments over the next few days as part of a fulsome review," the board said. 

In Delta, city crews provided sandbags to people whose properties might be susceptible as massive waves crashed against beachfront retaining walls in the Beach Grove neighbourhood.

"We're fully prepared. We've got sandbags ready for people. We dropped letters off in the mail yesterday," said Delta Mayor George Harvey. "It's a combined operation with police, fire and our engineering crews. We'll debrief when this is over and see where we need to improve."

Large pieces of debris, including a number of big logs, were washed ashore by the waves.

"I worry for my neighbours that are here on the water. I'm just looking at the logs that are out there and wondering what would happen if logs breached over people's walls," said local resident Jillian Lock.

With more above average tides expected in the coming days, the mayor said city staff will continue to monitor the situation and are prepared to offer assistance to people in the event their properties flood.